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| Author |
Message |
krj
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Classical Music Radio, again
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Mar 28 06:33 UTC 2001 |
The old classical radio items are not linked between the two conferences,
and anyway they are old.
At the UM student opera last Sunday, there was a signboard advertising
an internet radio station at
http://www.classicalmusicdetroit.com
Looking at their website, they say they have three old WQRS hands
as their DJs: Davis Gloff, Jack Goggin and Pat McElroy.
Is the web operation actually making money and paying these guys?
(For those new to the story: WQRS was Detroit's commercial
classical FM station until it was sold and converted into a
series of not-very-successful rock stations.)
If someone tries this out, please file a report.
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The April issue of the Ann Arbor Observer reports on how WUOM,
the NPR station at the University of Michigan, is faring in the
ratings since their decision to drop classical music and move
to a news/talk format. WUOM didn't just improve its ratings with
the format switch -- it is now the dominant radio
station for Washtenaw County radio listeners.
The top three Arbitron ratings are:
WUOM 10.9
WJR 6.4
WNIC 5.1
I don't have historic ratings information available, but it was reported
at the time of the format switch that WUOM's ratings as a classical
station were not good.
(April 2001 Observer, page 9)
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| 18 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 1 of 18:
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Mar 28 06:54 UTC 2001 |
And, at the format switch, I stopped listening to WUOM (and supporting
them).
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md
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response 2 of 18:
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Mar 28 13:15 UTC 2001 |
Did you have any trouble getting through the crowd of people running
the other way?
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keesan
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response 3 of 18:
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Mar 28 16:46 UTC 2001 |
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that in northern Michigan (Cadillac)
you can hear classical music (Interlaken station) with much better reception
on a small clock radio than you can hear classical music in Ann Arbor on a
good receiver. I leave my receiver set to mono to improve my chances.
Detroit used to have about five stations playing classical radio (including
AM). Any updates on digital radio?
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rcurl
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response 4 of 18:
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Mar 28 19:12 UTC 2001 |
Re #2: no. We live in different realities, so we just passed through each
other. I avoid professional wrestling too.
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mcnally
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response 5 of 18:
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Mar 28 22:21 UTC 2001 |
Rane is on a lofty pedestal, indeed.
It must be very lonely up there, way above the professional wrestling fans
and NPR listeners..
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keesan
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response 6 of 18:
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Mar 28 22:54 UTC 2001 |
I find the noise on NPR annoying - they are imitating something they think
is music in between the talking. And the little bit of music that they do
play at night is so full of obnoxious commercials (blaring jazz or swing to
advertise some other program, late at night) that I turn it off and switch
to a tape or a record. I wish we had Interlaken radio here. No commercials.
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orinoco
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response 7 of 18:
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Mar 28 23:02 UTC 2001 |
They had me pretty well fooled then. Whatever they're imitating between
talking, I'd thought it was music too.
I can't say I've got a strong opinion one way or the other. It would be nice
to have a reliable classical station in town, but I always liked CBC better
than WUOM anyway. NPR is nice too, though.
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gelinas
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response 8 of 18:
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Mar 28 23:26 UTC 2001 |
There are several NPR stations in the local area. Which one are y'all talking
about? WUOM is mostly (all?) talk, some of it NPR. WKAR is mostly classical,
with NPR news and features. WEMU is mostly jazz and blues, with NPR news
and features. I can't follow talk shows, and WEMU has more local news than
WKAR, so I listen to WEMU. If I get tired of jazz, there's WWWW and WKQL.
Neither of them has NPR news, but WEMU is just a button away at the top
of the hour.
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rcurl
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response 9 of 18:
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Mar 28 23:36 UTC 2001 |
It is really quite nie. I recommend it.
(I agree with Keesan that all the seque musical snippets are extremely
annoying.)
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krj
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response 10 of 18:
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Apr 23 03:36 UTC 2001 |
WUOM has a teensy bit of classical music left. We've just listened
to a broadcast concert by the Flint Symphony Orchestra: Rachmaninoff's
Second Symphony. 10pm to 11:30 or midnight, it looks like.
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krj
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response 11 of 18:
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May 9 22:42 UTC 2001 |
Britain's "Classic FM" is webcasting via Windows Media Player.
Classic FM is easy to make fun of because it's cute "Classics Lite,"
but we had a lot of fun with it when we were in Britain in 1995.
http://www.classicfm.co.uk
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krj
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response 12 of 18:
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May 10 15:45 UTC 2001 |
Oh, I'm just wallowing in Classic FM. We listened to it so much when
we were in Britain. Wallow, wallow. And now, the British traffic reports!
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krj
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response 13 of 18:
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May 21 19:56 UTC 2001 |
Not exactly radio, but here's a Wired news story about classical
music organizations trying to figure out what they want to do on the
Internet:
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,43644,00.html
Essentially this seems to be a framework for the musicians union and
various managements to work out what they are going to do next,
now that the existing union contracts have priced almost all US
orchestras out of recording deals, and the sales of new standard
repetoire CDs have pretty much collapsed anyway.
My tentative grasp of this is that the organizations and the union
are coming to grips with the idea that they're going to have to
use streaming Internet audio as a promotional tool without expecting
it to generate much if any revenue, but I'm not 100% sure that's correct.
Some really complicated legal agreements and understandings are
posted at: http://www.electronicmediaforum.org
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krj
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response 14 of 18:
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Mar 3 05:17 UTC 2002 |
Just found today: BBC Radio 3, putting out a Real Audio stream.
Start at http://www.bbc.co.uk and grub around until you find Radio 3.
We listened for about 45 minutes; low fi, sorta like AM radio, but
the content was nice.
Radio 3 is primarily classical though they also include some folk
and world music, and I think there was some jazz in the mix too.
I think it's conceived as a "serious arts" station.
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dbratman
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response 15 of 18:
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Mar 11 22:12 UTC 2002 |
I have fond memories of Radio 3 while driving around in Britain, but it
has too much talking for my listening preferences while being a
computer jockey.
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krj
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response 16 of 18:
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Jun 5 22:08 UTC 2002 |
BBC Radio 3 has now upgraded their maximum Real Audio streaming rate
from 44Kbps to 64Kbps. This takes the sound quality from AM-stereo
quality to somewhere close to average FM quality.
I'm marvelling at the detail I heard in the end of the Massenet
opera HERODIADE, and in the Stravinsky clarinet piece I'm
hearing right now; the listening fatigue I get on the 44K programming
is greatly reduced at the higher bit rate. Home users would
need DSL or cable to get this rate, and even then I don't know
if it would work for them.
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keesan
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response 17 of 18:
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Jun 6 02:32 UTC 2002 |
I found that the Detroit station at 24K mono sounds better than what I get
on my radio most of the time, which is pretty full of static even in mono.
You would have to have a local or at least a strong FM station to equal their
quality. Canada is sometimes not too bad.
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jep
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response 18 of 18:
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Jun 6 14:25 UTC 2002 |
re #16: It works fine over my DSL connection.
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